urge parliamentary scrutiny of the state within a state of the Khakis, especially the dreaded spy agency (DGFI). The interference of the Khakis into state politics will once again jeopardize institutionalization of elective democracy, good governance and secularism. The rogues fear social justice activists, critics, politicians and journalists too - Joy Manush!

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Bangladesh 'most trusted' by Indians

SUBIR
BHAUMIK

Guess
the country Indians trust the most - surely not where they prefer to travel for
higher education or health care or with whom they trade most.

A recent
survey on foreign policy issues indicates most Indians trust neighbour Bangladesh the
most. And not unexpectedly, Pakistan
the least.

The
CNN-IBN-The Hindu Election Tracker Survey, conducted by the Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies, has revealed that while 37 per cent of India's voters
feel that relations with neighbours have improved under Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's UPA coalition government, only 19 per cent disagreed with the
proposition.

When
asked which countries should India
either trust a 'great deal' or 'somewhat', 48 per cent chose Bangladesh while 46 percent picked Russia.

This is
somewhat surprising considering that leading Indian parties like the biggest
Opposition BJP have run a persistent campaign about illegal migration from Bangladesh and previous governments in that country
have been accused of sheltering insurgents and religious radicals who attacked
targets in India.

Even now
the BJP and some regional parties like Asom Gana Parishad and Trinamool
Congress are opposing a bill to be placed in the Parliament by the UPA
government to formalise the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh.

Not to
speak of the anti-Bangladesh tirade that often surfaces in Assam and other
northeastern states on the issue of illegal migration and leads to considerable
violence against settlers of East Bengali origin.

India's former ambassador in
Bangladesh Deb Mukherjee feels this has much to do what the Hasina government
has done for India
in the last five years.

"I
think this has much to do with the way Bangladesh
has addressed India's
security concerns very comprehensively in the last five years. Unlike during
previous regimes, when insurgents from northeast India
found sanctuary in Bangladesh,"
Mukherjee told the Hindu.

He said
public attitudes are often shaped by recent memory rather than by history,
which may explain why so many Indians feel Bangladesh can be trusted.

Mukherjee
also felt many Indians may be suffering from a 'sense of guilt '.

"I
am speculating that this could also be a result of a sense of guilt because India has not delivered what India should
have delivered on and reciprocated, be it on Teesta waters or the land boundary
agreement," Mukherjee said.

There is
also a growing recognition that Bangladesh
has performed well on social indicators and even its economy is doing rather
well.

While India's rupee has fallen from 47-48 to 59-60 for
a dollar, Bangladesh's
Taka has appreciated from 84 to a dollar to 77 a dollar in a year's time.

For the
first time in its independent history, Bangladesh
has a current account surplus of $2.57 billion , while India's current account is woefully
in the red.

And
against all expectations, Bangladesh
is on course to achieve its 2015 UN millennium goals in poverty alleviation two
years before time within 2013.

In their
recent book, An Uncertain Glory, economists Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze have
noted that India has a lot
to learn from Bangladesh
in human development index.

Bangladesh is ahead of India and other
South Asian countries in most of the criterion used to judge the human development
index.

Former
Secretary (East) in India's
ministry of external affairs Rajiv Sikri has publicly called Bangladesh "India's most important neighbour'
during a recent conference in Kolkata.

Russia ranks a close second among
partners India
should have trust in, according to the survey.

Anuradha
Chenoy, professor at the School of International Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) and a Russia
expert, recounted that this trust had 'wavered' after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Sections
of the middle class, and the strategic elite, begun having aspirations that
they should only go with the US.
But after ten years of the strategic partnership with US, and its attitudes on
a range of issues, there is a renewed faith in old partners, in Russia, and in
the South-South framework."

This,
she added, did not mean a reversal to 'Cold War politics', but an 'independent
foreign policy'.

54 per
cent of the respondents said India
should have 'no trust at all' in Pakistan, while only 14 per cent
said there should be a 'great deal' or some trust in the country.

These
findings come soon after a poll done by the Australia-India Institute and the
Low Institute for International Policy, which said that 94 percent of Indians
see Pakistan
as a threat, while 78 per cent see it as a major threat.

But
their study also showed that 89 percent believe that ordinary people in both
countries want peace. So there's an window of opportunity to use --
people-to-people contact may help.

China draws mixed response in CNN-IBN-The
Hindu Election Tracker Survey, in a reflection of the relationship of
competition and co-operation New Delhi shares
with Beijing.
33 per cent of the respondents felt India should have trust in China, while 31
per cent believed there should be 'no trust at all' in Beijing.

That
should mean there is a window of opportunity to improve relations with China , specially if India
reacts positively to Li Keqiang's 'handshake across the Himalayas'
and work on specific proposals like developing the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar)
economic corridor .

"This
indicates that while there are sections pandering to jingoism about China, there's equal or more people in India who
believe the two Asian giants can develop a great future relationship.

This
could also be the result of the growing disillusionment with US, a strategic
partner of India
but with whom relations have plummeted on a host of controversial issues.